Title: Like Father, like Son.
Summary: One Shot. Reid mused about both of his father. Written purely for Sue1313.
Author's Notes: With Many Thanks to REIDFANATIC for the beta read! She is amazing! I cannot thank her enough.
This one shot is for Sue1313 who gave me a request.
Sue1313, I hope this is good enough! :
I would like to show appreciation to DeviousRobynno, Rossi's Lil Devil, encre d'esprit, Sue1313, breverson, and The Author and Self for reviewing 'The Hero in the Rain'.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Sadly, the characters in this story are only borrowed from the TV show 'Criminal Minds'.
The plane was silent, only the soft breathing of the sleeping agents could be heard. Reid sighed loudly, the sigh travelled around the plane. He wasn't surprised that nobody stirred; after all they had had a really long case that would not let them sleep for long. The unsub mocked the team, laughing as they found more dead ends and the laughter echoed when he decided to turn himself in. He wanted the world to know his face.
The criminal laughed at them, at their attempts to catch him that had failed. Throughout the elongated case, Reid couldn't help but wonder if they would have caught the criminal if Gideon hadn't left. He missed the older man when he felt out of place. He especially missed Gideon when he was stuck on a thought that he couldn't get out in the open, Gideon normally lured it out for him.
He let out another loud sigh. Still nobody awaked, not even a flutter of eyelids. Feeling lost and alone, he shifted in his seat, trying to enter the darkness but he wasn't welcomed. He tried to bat away the thoughts about Gideon and the pain it brought.
His teeth clenched as he felt the crumpled paper, a sign that it had been read so many times. He didn't even need it to read what Gideon had written, he could remember from the first time he scanned the page but he needed to read it, carefully and remember every single curve and stroke of the writing.
Spencer. That's how Gideon started his letter, exactly like his father. Reid hated that, they did not have the right to use his first name when they are leaving him without so much of a goodbye apart from measly pieces of paper. They lost the right to use his first name within the second of the thought of getting up and leaving.
However, behind his fury and anger was understanding. He could understand their reasons for going, to leave their life behind.
His father could not cope with his mother's illness. She simply was not the woman that he fell in love with. He needed to leave, no matter how his actions would affect the family in the long run. Reid tried his best to care for his mother, listening to the stories that she read to him, helping her out as much as he could. He felt he'd failed when he put his mother into a hospital, unable to cope. Like father, like son.
Gideon could not cope with the stress that the job brought. Even though he seemed okay most of time, when he came back after losing his team due to his decision to send them in a building with a bomb, he was never the same. The final straw was when his close college friend, Sarah was killed in his own apartment. He thought she would be safe but he made the wrong decision once again. Reid should have helped his father-figure, like he had helped him with his haunting nightmares. Reid should have helped banish the demons but he failed, unable to see the signs of a dying mind until it was too late. Like father, like son.
They were so similar but yet so different. Reid had great memories with each one of them. They both teased him, mocking but yet they made it seem okay to be who he was.
When he was a kid, his father would always tell him that he was the best son in the world and he could be anything he wanted to be every single day. He knew that he was alone when the ink on the letter started to fade and the words didn't sound as strong.
Even though that letter had been put away now, he could remember everything about it. The way his father said sorry, the way he said that he would visit. He never did. Reid had tried to find him once, but met so many dead ends that his heart started to feel as if it would never returned to normal so he gave up. As soon he gave up, he muttered the words, 'like father, like son'. A failure.
He backtracked. He couldn't remember his father like that. He changed his memories to the earlier days, when they were so happy. Back when the voices left his mother alone, laughing, grinning and playing, just enjoying their life. His parents knew that he was smart so they would questioned him on everything, from the reason why the sky was blue to how many ants are there in a colony. He would laugh as he answered the questions he knew and shrugged his shoulders when he didn't. However, they would ask him the same question again another time, knowing that he would have been diving into one of his many books, learning and remembering for the next time.
He was so proud of his father. He could remember one of the best times they had together.
"Hey little man!" grinned William as he ruffled his son's hair, "geesh, at the rate that you're growing – it won't be long before you're taller than I am." Reid could only grin. He had just been reading a book on quotes and was dying to say one of them to his father.
"Dad, you're someone to look up to, no matter how tall I've grown." William did not say anything; instead, for the first time since Reid was a baby, he pulled his son into a heartfelt hug. It was a shame that he left the following week. Reid sighed, glancing around the plane.
It felt so empty without the great figure.
Gideon had helped him so much, from overcoming his nightmares to playing chess with him. Gideon was the father that he wished he'd had all his life. He loved the times that they spent together as he learnt so much from the older man.
With a small smile, Reid recalled the day when he first worked with the man. Reid was a little bit afraid of him; he had heard that he was moody and a tough taskmaster.
He was reading a book about Friedrich Nietzsche and a quote jumped out at him that he knew that he could bring into reality as soon as Gideon called him 'Doctor Reid', to earn him respect from others.
'When one has not had a good father, one must create one.' From that day forward, he loved Gideon as if he was his real father. His love never lessened, even when Gideon disappeared without as much as a goodbye apart from a letter.
The letter rustled again, a reminder that he still had it in his pocket. Soon he would have to put it away along with his other goodbye letters but he was not ready now, not yet.
"Hey, mumbled Morgan as he awoke to the wheels clogging in Reid's mind, "You okay?"
Reid did not reply straight away, getting his thoughts together, the images of both of the important men in his life and their letters flashing through his mind.
"He did not want to leave you like he did to the rest of us. He said goodbye to you cuz he knew that you needed it." Morgan wanted to get this in the open; he couldn't bear to see the younger man in pain, thinking that he was the one to blame.
Reid gave him a small nod, smiling as he looked out of the window. He mused about his fathers, thinking back to the past. He wanted to be as funny as William; he wanted to be as focused as Gideon. He wanted to be as hard working as both of them. He would try harder to apply the things that made his fathers the characters that they were but he would add another great quality, to stick by his loved one, to face the challenges in his life with courage, never running away.
Like fathers, like son. Only better.
Right, I realised that this might not be what you had in mind, Sue1313 but I did try my hardest!
Thank you to the rest of you for reading this, it is amazing that there are so many fans of my work. I could not be any happier!
Please Review!
I would still be accepting requests for one-shots as I am struggling to kick start my new long story.
With thanks :)